JALALABAD, Afghanistan – A bomb exploded Saturday in a medical plaza a half-mile from a provincial governor's mansion in eastern Afghanistan, police and eyewitnesses said. One person was hurt.
Several small explosions have occurred in Jalalabad in recent months, and are usually blamed on fugitive Taliban and Al Qaeda, who can easily flee to neighboring Pakistan or to nearby Kunar province.
"We don't know for sure whether the bomb was against the government or the result of a personal grudge," said Shahzada Musloomyar, acting governor of eastern Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital.
Afghan government officials say that renegade rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has a large following in neighboring Kunar province. U.S. soldiers operating there have come under regular assaults, and the attacks are often blamed on Hekmatyar.
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